A sail boat is beached near Margaritaville and the Golden Nugget in Biloxi

“The only thing you can do is prepare,” said Gulfport, Mississippi, resident Emmett Bryant. “Here there’s nothing really you can do when the storm comes unless you’re going to leave. And I don’t plan on leaving.”

Nate made its initial landfall near the mouth of the Mississippi river on Saturday evening and then made a second landfall early on Sunday near Boloxi, Mississippi, where its 46,000 residents were warned that the highest storm surge could reach 11 to 12 feet.

The storm surge brought flood waters over Highway 90 and up to oceanside casinos in Biloxi, while flood waters swept over streets in communities across Mississippi and Alabama, according to reports on social media.

Satellite image shows Hurricane Nate approaching the mouth of the Mississippi River on Saturday

Some 5,000 people in southern Alabama were without power due to Nate, Alabama Power said.

Rainfall of 3 to 6 inches, up to a maximum of 10 inches, were expected east of the Mississippi River from the central Gulf Coast into the Deep South, in the eastern Tennessee Valley, and southern Appalachian mountains, the NHC said.